With an ATX computer (almost all new computers are ATX and have ATX power supplies, ATX cases, and ATX mainboards) the power button is connected to the mainboard instead of the power supply. This gives the operating system the ability to do things like sync the disks before the power actually cuts off.
However, if the operating system is locked up, or misconfigured, or does not support power management, then pressing the power button will have no effect. You will have to hold down the power button for 5 seconds to instruct the mainboard to force power off without the approval of the operating system. The ATX standard defines this behavior and I believe all ATX mainboards are supposed to support it. But you don't want to have to hold down the power switch for five seconds. Try adding "apm=on" to your LILO config as somebody else suggested. If that doesn't work you may need to recompile your kernel with APM support enabled. Also look for power management options inside the BIOS. Shawn Yarbrough [EMAIL PROTECTED]
